Your Excellency, Sir.
I have chosen to communicate with you through an open letter, not out of disregard for the established channels of communication, but in recognition of the administrative bottlenecks that can sometimes make direct access to your office difficult. I also understand the enormous demands on your time and the many responsibilities that come with occupying the high office of the Governor of Kogi State. In view of these realities, I consider an open letter a more direct and convenient medium through which I can respectfully bring my thoughts and concerns to your attention without adding unnecessarily to the administrative processes surrounding your office.
In my previous letter sir, I officially introduced myself and provided the necessary background about who am I. I therefore do not wish to dwell on that again. My focus this time is simply to draw your attention to the matter at hand and respectfully seek your consideration and timely intervention.
Sir, I write once again to draw your attention to an issue I previously brought before your administration through an open letter concerning the urgent need for decisive intervention in the sports sector of Kogi State. I make this appeal again, because of my deep concern about the future of sports, our athletes and the thousands of young people that seeks sports as means of livelihood, personal development, pathway out of poverty. Sir, this is my small contribution to the upliftment of sports in your result-oriented administration.
Your Excellency sir, the sporting sector likewise their facilities across the state are in urgent need of your unique attention and action. The condition of the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, in particular, has continued to generate concern among athletes, football stakeholders and sports lovers. Your administration has itself acknowledged the need to revive the stadium, with the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development stating that technical work was ongoing and that the government is determined to change the situation. It is therefore important that this commitment translates into a completed, functional and properly maintained sporting facilities.
KOGI UNITED AND THE STATE OF FOOTBALL
Your Excellency sir, another area that deserves your personal attention is the performance and administration of our state-owned football club, Kogi United. There have been encouraging developments, especially the club’s qualification for the 2026 NNL promotional playoff after topping its NLO center, even though, they eventually lost the promotion ticket.
Sir, a state-owned football club should not merely survive from season to season. Kogi United is in dare need of a clear development pathway, professional administration, adequate logistics, competitive remuneration, quality technical personnel and a sustainable youth development structure. Reports from within the club have previously highlighted concerns about the condition of the stadium, remuneration, transportation and other logistical challenges affecting the team. These are issues that deserve attention at the highest level.
NEED FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEW
Your Excellency, I respectfully urge you to carry out an in-depth and profound revision of our state’s Youth and Sports Development by looking into its’ accountability, developmental plans, time-bound measurable targets and results. This will go a long way in repositioning sports within the state for better representation, higher enrolments, greater participation, provision of jobs and alleviation of poverty within the states’ growing youth population. This inquisition will enable your administration to:
- Formulate a comprehensive plan for sports’ infrastructural development.
- Upgrade sports facilities across the three senatorial districts and establish new ones where needed.
- Determine the timeline for completing the rehabilitation of Confluence Stadium.
- Enact a long-term developmental plan for Kogi United and Confluence Queens.
- Establish some mechanisms for identifying and developing young sporting talents across the 21 local government areas of the state.
- Give the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development a measurable target success.
- Enter into a public-private partnership framework capable of attracting private investment into sports infrastructure and professional sports management.
- Introduce a system to monitor and measure the performance of government-owned sports teams.
These action plans will go a long way in improving and building sports in Kogi state and lending credence to the performance of our amiable and success-driving Governor.
THE 2027 APPROPRIATION PRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY
Your Excellency, sir, the preparation of the 2027 budget and appropriation provides an important opportunity to fundamentally reposition the state’s approach to sports. I respectfully urge your administration to make sports infrastructure and athlete development a clearly defined component of the 2027 appropriation. The state already recognized that its sports infrastructure requires substantial intervention. In discussing the 2026 budget, the Commissioner himself described Confluence Stadium as practically unusable and acknowledged the broader problem of moribund sporting facilities and youth hubs. The 2027 budget should therefore be used to move from acknowledgement to implementation.
SPORTS AS AN INVESTMENT
Kogi State has no shortage of sporting talent. The successes of our athletes at national competitions demonstrate that there is talent in the state. The government recently celebrated Kogi athletes who returned from the National Youth Games with two Golds medals, five silver medals and four bronze medals. The question, therefore, is not whether Kogi has talent. The question is whether we are providing the structures necessary to convert that talent into sustainable sporting success.
Just like I said in my first letter sir, Sports can create employment, promote healthy living, reduce youth restiveness, generate revenue, attract investment and improve the image of a state. With Kogi’s strategic location and proximity to Abuja, a properly developed sporting infrastructure can also position the state to host national and even international competitions. Your Excellency, this is an opportunity that should not be allowed to pass.
MY HUMBLE APPEAL
I therefore respectfully appeal to you to personally take a fresh look at the state of sports in Kogi State.
Please ensure that the rehabilitation of our major sporting facilities is not allowed to remain an unfulfilled promise and, most importantly, please use the 2027 appropriation to establish a new foundation for sports development in Kogi State. History will remember your administrations not only for the roads, buildings and other physical infrastructure they constructed, but also for the opportunities they created for their young people.
Your Excellency, Kogi’s sporting talents deserve a system that works. Our athletes deserve facilities they can be proud of. Kogi United deserves a structure capable of competing with the best. And our children deserve to inherit sporting facilities better than those we inherited. I believe your administration has the opportunity to make this happen.
This is therefore another appeal for urgent, deliberate and measurable action on sports in Kogi State. May your administration continue to receive the wisdom and courage required to take decisions that will positively shape the future of our state.
Yours faithfully,
– Momoh Camara Mejid (MNIVS, RSV)
Nasarawa state.
